No love for comedies? Friday, starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker is my absolute favourite. Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood is also a fantastic display of parody and satire

As far as 'serious' films go I would say my favourites are, in random order, Goodfellas, City of God, Blood Diamond, This Is England, Shottas and Godfather II

I also liked 12 Angry Men (the original 1950s one, not the crap politically correct [like throwing in a few black and female jurors constitutes political correctness] '80s remake), The Dark Knight, Terminator 2, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the Heat of Night would also get a mention, but blaxploitation is lol.

Over the weekend I saw two recently hyped films, namely Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Square.

Both could have benefitted from a judicious bit of trimming here and there and both had some casting and pacing issues but I would recommend them.

Much has been said already about Billboards but when you fill up a movie with just a few acting heavyweights, you had better take care with your supporting cast. Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson all deliver fine performances but Abbie Cornish, in an important unifying role as Harrelson's wife, stands out like a sore thumb here.

Although the film chimes in well with the hashtag sentiments current in Hollywood, Billboards points a wry finger at those who want to climb aboard the progressive train without paying the fare.

A similar theme brings us to The Square. This is a Swedish production of a story not so much about the temporary art exhibit in the title than the museum's director and staff.

Although the aim of the illuminated square outside the host building is to bring people together around certain rather too simplistic values, the film shows how the differences between us often get in the way, especially when we only pretend to share the values.

The consequences are frequently hilarious but also sometimes very uncomfortable to watch and this will work well for you if you enjoy "awkward" comedies like The Office and Dogme 95 films such as Festen or The Idiots.

consequences are frequently hilarious but also sometimes very uncomfortable to watch and this will work well for you if you enjoy "awkward" comedies like The Office and Dogme 95 films such as Festen or The Idiots.

Haven't seen either - but yes keen to see both, particularly the Square for the reasons that you cite above.. to that end have you seen the 'Boss of it all' another great Von Trier movie; I love the ever more outrageous responsibility swerves as the film unfolds.

We watched Denial last night - its in the free section on Amazon now, and thought it was really well done; great performances from Timothy Spall (as ever); Andrew Scott; but most notably Tom Wilkinson, who has such breadth and gives a film stealing performance. So much so that we were split as to whether Rachel Weisz did well with what she had or just just a bit short of the three mentioned. Anyway whilst the story is relatively recent and the outcome known the drama unfolds in a really engaging way.

Haven't seen either - but yes keen to see both, particularly the Square for the reasons that you cite above.. to that end have you seen the 'Boss of it all' another great Von Trier movie; I love the ever more outrageous responsibility swerves as the film unfolds.

We watched Denial last night - its in the free section on Amazon now, and thought it was really well done; great performances from Timothy Spall (as ever); Andrew Scott; but most notably Tom Wilkinson, who has such breadth and gives a film stealing performance. So much so that we were split as to whether Rachel Weisz did well with what she had or just just a bit short of the three mentioned. Anyway whilst the story is relatively recent and the outcome known the drama unfolds in a really engaging way.

This film tells the true story of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen), who rose to meteoric heights as a young writer in his 20s, becoming a staff writer at "The New Republic" for three years (1995-1998), where 27 of his 41 published stories were either partially or completely made up. Looking for a short cut to fame, Glass concocted sources, quotes and even entire stories, but his deception did not go unnoticed forever, and eventually, his world came crumbling down.

At only 94 minutes, it's an easy watch that is fairly compelling from start to finish. It also sheds a charming light on the earliest days of the internet and how naive most people were to its workings.